What is the ISEE exam? Levels, format, fees and scores

Who runs the ISEE

The ISEE is run by E3n, the nonprofit formed when ERB and EMA merged in early March 2026. E3n also runs the SSAT, and both tests continue.

Family information now lives at admission.org, and old erblearn.org ISEE pages redirect there. Registration is at iseeonline.erblearn.org. The ISEE and the SSAT still use separate parent accounts, so an SSAT login will not get you into ISEE registration.

More than 1,200 independent schools worldwide accept the ISEE.

The six levels

The level depends on the grade your child is applying to, not the grade they are in now. (The SSAT works the other way, off the current grade.)

Level	Applying to
Primary 2	Grade 2
Primary 3	Grade 3
Primary 4	Grade 4
Lower	Grades 5–6
Middle	Grades 7–8
Upper	Grades 9–12

A fifth grader applying for 9th grade in a few years does not pick Upper. The level matches the entry grade on the application in front of you. See which ISEE level should my child take? if your child is near a cutoff.

What’s on the Lower, Middle and Upper levels

The Middle and Upper levels use the same structure and the same question counts. The Lower level is shorter.

Section	Lower	Middle / Upper
Verbal Reasoning	34 questions, 20 min	40 questions, 20 min
Quantitative Reasoning	38 questions, 35 min	37 questions, 35 min
Reading Comprehension	25 questions, 25 min	36 questions, 35 min
Mathematics Achievement	30 questions, 30 min	47 questions, 40 min
Essay (unscored)	1 prompt, 30 min	1 prompt, 30 min
Total testing time	140 min	160 min
Multiple-choice questions	127	160
Breaks	Two 10-minute	Two 10-minute

Each section includes a few trial questions that are not scored.

What’s on the Primary levels

The Primary levels test Reading and Math only. There is no essay.

Level	Reading	Math	Break
Primary 2	24 questions, 27 min	24 questions, 26 min	One
Primary 3	24 questions, 28 min	24 questions, 26 min	One
Primary 4	28 questions, 30 min	28 questions, 30 min	One

Total time runs about 53 to 60 minutes plus the break. At Primary 2, the reading portion is split into Auditory Comprehension (6 questions, 7 minutes) and Reading (18 questions, 20 minutes).

Where your child can take it

Option	Grades	Format
At home	2–12	Online
At a school	2–12	Paper or online
At a testing office	2–12	Paper or online
At a Prometric center	5–12	Online

Paper and online use the same questions and the same timing, and in both a student can go back and change answers within a section. For at-home testing, a parent has to be home and a second camera is required.

2026–27 fees

Option	Primary (grades 2–4)	Lower / Middle / Upper
At a school	$130	$170
At home, school-administered	$130	$170
Testing office, group	$185	$225
Testing office, individual	$210	$255
At home, ISEE-administered	$185	$250
At home, office-administered with accommodations	$185	$250
Prometric center	—	$250

Other charges to know about: rescheduling starts at $50, cancelling starts at $55 (and a refund is only possible within 90 days of payment), late registration for a paper test is $45, and walking in is $60. Schools may issue fee waivers, so ask the admissions office before you pay.

How the ISEE is scored

Each scored section gets a scaled score from 760 to 940, plus a percentile rank from 1 to 99 and a stanine. A stanine is a nine-point scale, 1 to 9, that sorts percentile ranks into nine bands. ERB’s guide treats 1 to 3 as below average, 4 to 6 as average and 7 to 9 as above average, with 5 as the midpoint, and says each school decides what counts as a good score.

The percentile is the part that surprises parents. It compares your child only with independent-school applicants in the same grade who took the ISEE over the past three years, not with a national sample. Four sections are scored at Lower, Middle and Upper; two are scored at Primary. Our ISEE scores explained page walks through the score report line by line.

Two scoring rules worth saying plainly:

• Only correct answers count. There is no penalty for a wrong answer, so your child should answer every question. (Compare with which admissions tests penalize wrong answers.)
• The essay is not scored. A copy goes to the schools receiving the scores. Families do not get a copy.

When scores arrive

Test format	Usual turnaround
Online	3–5 days
Paper, grades 5–12	5–10 days
Paper, grades 2–4	7–14 days

Scores go automatically to the schools you pick. You can add schools later at no charge, but a school can only be removed before the test starts, so choose carefully at registration.

How often a student can test

A student may take the ISEE once per testing season, so up to three times in a year:

Season	Months
Fall	August–November
Winter	December–March
Spring/Summer	April–July

A student who tests in September has to wait until December to test again. More on timing in how many times can you take the ISEE?

Registering, start to finish

1. Confirm which schools require the ISEE and what their deadline is. Check each school’s admissions page.
2. Pick the level from the grade on the application, not your child’s current grade.
3. Pick a test option and date that leaves room for scores to arrive before the deadline.
4. Register at iseeonline.erblearn.org and choose the schools that will receive scores.
5. Ask the admissions office about a fee waiver if cost is a factor.

If your child’s schools take either test, SSAT vs ISEE covers how the two differ before you commit.